What was going to be a nice hike turned into a scenic joyride yesterday. I’d had my eye on Mt. Marvine for a long time. It’s prominently visible from south Highway 10 in Emery County and from many places in the Wasatch Plateau, and in the past year I’ve taken notice of it several times from a distance. I was planning on hiking Marvine, then swinging by the Hunts house because they’re moving out of state and this was their last weekend in Utah. I found a few geocaches and stopped to take some photos during the drive there, then turned onto the graveled Sevenmile Road heading toward U M Pass where I would start the hike to Mt. Marvine. From Sevenmile Road to U M Pass, there’s a rough and rocky dirt road about two miles long that, if I’d have know how bad it was, I would have driven the truck. I 4-wheeled the car about a mile up the road, but after coming to a clearing in the trees I saw a big storm moving in from the north. I knew I shouldn’t be driving on that road, let alone hiking to the peak, with a summer lightning storm rolling through the area, so I turned around.
It started raining hard about a minute after I got back to the paved road–phew! I passed Fish Lake through a heavy downpour and didn’t stop to take any photos or find any geocaches. It rained on-and-off on the drive north on UT-24, but by the time I got near Sigurd it was hot and dry. I stopped at the Hunts’ house and found that Chris had been there helping them pack and load stuff already, and I was late to the party. Most of the loading had been done, but I got to spend a couple of hours hanging out and saying goodbyes (or “see-ya-laters”). After leaving there, instead of taking I-70 through Salina Canyon, I drove on the frontage road between the Gooseberry exit and Fremont Junction. I had been through Salina Canyon many times before, but I’d never stopped to enjoy it. I was able to drive through the abandoned railroad tunnels, check out an old coal mine, and see a couple of old dams in the creeks through the canyon. It was a great drive and, combined with the other less-traveled roads I’d taken earlier in the day, made for a very nice loop.
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